Santa Fe, New Mexico Snapshot
The city is well-known as a center for arts that reflect the multi-cultural character of the city. Each Wednesday the alternative weekly newspaper, The Santa Fe Reporter, publishes information on the arts and culture of Santa Fe.
The town and the surrounding areas have a high concentration of artists. They have come over the decades to capture on canvas and in other media the natural beauty of the landscape, the flora and the fauna. One of the most well-known New Mexico-based artists was Georgia O'Keeffe, who lived for a time in Santa Fe but primarily in Abiquiu, a small village about 50 miles (80 km) away. The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe is devoted to exhibitions of her work and associated artists or related themes.
Canyon Road, east of the Plaza, has the highest concentration of art galleries in the city, and is a major destination for tourists and locals. Santa Fe's art market is the third largest in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles, and the Canyon Road galleries showcase a wide array of contemporary Taos Masters, Southwestern, indigenous American, and experimental art, in addition to older Russian and Native Ameri can pieces.
Music and opera are well represented in Santa Fe with the annual Santa Fe Opera productions, which take place between late June and late August each year, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival which is also held at the same time, mostly in the recently refurbished movie theatre, the Lensic Theater, now a major performing arts venue.
Santa Fe has many world-class museums. Many are located around the historic downtown Plaza or close by:
- New Mexico Museum of Art – collections of Southwestern Arts.
- Institute of American Indian Arts Museum – Native American arts with political aspects.
- Georgia O'Keeffe Museum – devoted to the work of O'Keeffe and others whom she influenced.
- The History Museum – located in the Palace of the Governors, showcases Santa Fe history.
- Site Santa Fe – A contemporary art space, Known for contemporary art in the Southwest.
- Museum of International Folk Art – showcasing folk art and craftsmanship from around the world.
- Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Laboratory of Anthropology – exhibits Native American arts.
- Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian – Native American potteries.
- Museum of Spanish Colonial Art – Arts during Spanish-colonial era
